Multimedia caller ring information service

ABSTRACT

A system and method for providing ring back content is provided. In some embodiments, the ring back content is multimedia, audio and video, content and may be advertisements. The method includes calling a subscriber, and receiving content as ring back when calling the subscriber.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No.60/713,500 filed Sep. 1, 2005, and entitled “Multimedia Caller RingInformation Service,” by Venkatesh Raju and Dr. Youngky Kim, which isincorporated herein by reference for all purposes. This application isrelated to U.S. Ser. No. 11/394,747, entitled “Multimedia Caller RingDistribution System and Method”, Venkatesh Raju et al. inventors, filedon even date herewith and incorporated herein by reference for allpurposes.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not applicable.

REFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIX

Not applicable.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure relates to telephone services. More specifically,but not by way of limitation, a method and system are described thatprovide for a multimedia ring back service that allows a subscriber tothe service to specify multimedia content to be played as a ring backsignal and, in some embodiments, allows a caller to respond to the ringback content.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

When a telephone call is placed, the party initiating the call can bereferred to as the caller. The party to whom the call is placed can bereferred to as the called party. The audible signal that indicates to acalled party that an incoming call has been placed is known as a ringtone. The audible signal that indicates to a caller that the telephoneof the called party is ringing is known as a ring back. The callertypically hears the ring back until the called party accepts the call.That is, the ring back is heard until the call is connected.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one embodiment, a method for providing ring back content is provided.The method includes calling a subscriber. The method also includesreceiving content as ring back when calling the subscriber.

In another embodiment, a system for providing ring back content isprovided. The system includes a subscriber system and a caller system.The caller system is operable, in response to calling the subscribersystem, to receive a non-ring tone ring back content.

In still other embodiments, a system is provided that is operable forring back multimedia content. The system includes a computer operable topromote distribution of multimedia ring back content. The systemincludes a caller system operable to receive the multimedia content as aring back when placing at least some calls.

These and other features and advantages will be more clearly understoodfrom the following detailed description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings and claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the presentation and the advantagesthereof, reference is now made to the following brief description, takenin connection with the accompanying drawings in detailed description,wherein like reference numerals represent like parts.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system for providing a multimedia ring backaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates a method for providing a multimedia ring backaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a mobile device operable for someof the various embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of a computer system operable forsome of the various embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

It should be understood at the outset that although an exemplaryimplementation of one embodiment of the present invention is illustratedbelow, the present system may be implemented using any number oftechniques, whether currently known or in existence. The presentdisclosure should in no way be limited to the exemplary implementations,drawings, and techniques illustrated below, including the exemplarydesign and implementation illustrated and described herein, but may bemodified within the scope of the appended claims along with their fullscope of equivalents.

In embodiments of the present disclosure, a service is provided thatallows a subscriber to the service to specify the content that will beprovided as a ring back when a caller calls the subscriber. The contentcan be multimedia content such as video clips, audio clips,advertisements, weather reports, financial reports, sports scores,jokes, or other types of content that might include audio portions,video portions, graphical or text portions, combinations of audio,video, graphics or text, and/or other types of media. Any such categoryof content can be referred to as a genus of multimedia content. Itshould be understood that the term “video”, as used herein, does notnecessarily refer only to images displayed at a high enough frame rateto suggest motion but could also refer to static images, imagesdisplayed at a lower frame rate such as in a slide show, or other typesof image displays.

In some embodiments, the caller can respond to content received as aring back. For example, a caller might request more information about aproduct featured in an advertisement transmitted during ring back.

A telecommunications operator, such as a wireless communications serviceprovider, might provide this service, which can be referred to as theMultimedia Caller Information Service (MCIS). A message sent from theoperator to a caller via this service can be referred to as an MCISmessage. A subscriber to the MCIS service can inform the operator of thecontent that the subscriber wishes to be sent to callers as a ring back.When a caller calls the subscriber, the operator sends the selectedcontent to the caller in an MCIS message. Thus, ring back may beprovided to the caller in an MCIS message. Embodiments of the presentinvention are directed to telecommunications systems and informationtechnology architecture to support the content provided as a ring back,as well as the selection and delivery of this content. The term“operator” herein refers to a telecommunications service provider andnot to a person who provides assistance to a phone user in completing atelephone call, as for example in completing an “operator assisted call”in a plain old telephone system (POTS).

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a system 5 for providing multimediaring back content. In this illustration, a caller 10 calls a subscriber20 of an MCIS service provided by an operator 30. The subscriber 20receives the call. Herein the term “the caller 10” may sometimes referto the person or party placing the call, but will generally be used torefer to the device used to call the subscriber 20. Similarly, hereinthe term “the subscriber 20” may sometimes refer to the persons or partyreceiving the call from the caller 10, but will generally be used torefer to the device used to receive the call and make other selectionsor choices. The caller 10 and subscriber 20 may be mobile handsets, suchas mobile telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), portablecomputers, such as laptop, notebook, and tablet computers, or othermobile communication or computing systems, and the like. In someembodiments, the caller 10 and subscriber 20 may also be computers, suchas desktop, workstation, and kiosk computers. In still otherembodiments, the caller 10 and subscriber 20 may be standard home orbusiness telephone. The caller 10 and subscriber 20 may both be the sametype of system, or may be combinations of any of the aforementionedsystems.

At various points during the call setup process and/or after the call isconnected, the operator 30 might send the caller 10 an MCIS messagecontaining multimedia content chosen by the subscriber 20. Themultimedia content 42 might be provided by the operator 30 or by a thirdparty content provider 40. When the content 42 is an advertisement, thecontent provider 40 might be the company that provides theadvertisement. When an advertisement can be selected in the mannerdescribed below, the content 42, the content provider 40, and the meansfor selection can be referred to as an advertiser system. The multimediacontent might be stored on a server 50 from which the operator 30 canretrieve the content and transmit it to the caller 10. FIG. 1 ispresented only as an example and it should be understood that otherconfigurations of these components or of other components might providesimilar functionality.

The MCIS service is invoked at the operator 30 when a caller 10 places acall to a subscriber 20 to the service. The operator 30 may send an MCISmessage to a caller 10 under several different circumstances. Forexample, an MCIS message might be sent to a caller 10 while thesubscriber 20 is being located. In this case, the MCIS message would actas a substitute for any delay locating the subscriber 20, as well as thetypical ring back signal heard when the telephone of the subscriber 20is ringing. Other occasions when an MCIS message might be sent includeany instances selected by the subscriber 20, such as when the subscriber20 has placed the caller 10 on hold, or when the subscriber 20 isunreachable, busy, or has rejected the call. The MCIS messages sent to acaller 10 could be the same in all of these circumstances, different foreach circumstance, or the same in some circumstances and different inothers. Hereinafter, the MCIS messages will be referred to as occurringduring ring back, but it should be understood that the MCIS messagescould be transmitted during any of these or other circumstances. TheMCIS messages may continue to be sent to a caller 10 until the caller 10terminates the call or the subscriber 20 connects the call tocommunicate with the caller 10.

The operator 30 might offer the subscriber 20 a plurality of labels thatcan be referred to as MCIS tags. MCIS tags, or keywords, define thecontent that will be displayed on the telephone of a caller 10 andtherefore allow the subscriber 20 to decide what the caller 10 will seeand/or hear during ring back. MCIS tags may be text such as words orphrases, images, audio clips, video clips, or a combination thereof.When the subscriber 20 wishes a piece of content to be sent to a caller10 as a ring back, the subscriber 20 selects the MCIS tag associatedwith that content and informs the operator 30 of the selection. In othercases, the subscriber simply selects an MCIS tag and the content that isassociated with the tag is determined in other manners, as describedbelow. In some instances, the content or MCIS message(s) may beotherwise selected by or assigned to the subscriber 20. In either case,this process can be referred to as registering a tag.

The subscriber 20 can register one or more MCIS tags at the time ofsubscription to the MCIS service. Thereafter, when a caller 10 calls thesubscriber 20, the operator 30 sends the content associated with aregistered tag to the caller 10 over the existing signaling channel inan MCIS message. The subscriber 20 may add, delete, or modify MCIS tagsat any time after the initial registration of one or more tags. Theoperator 30 may offer a web interface or similar interface to allow thesubscriber 20 to conveniently make such changes. Alternatively, thesubscriber 20 can make a request to the operator 30 in writing, over thetelephone, or in other manners.

The operator 30 may also provide a catalog or other listing component 60from which the subscriber 20 can choose one or more tags. The catalogmight be displayed on a web page or other medium that facilitatesbrowsing and selecting tags. The catalog might include summaries orpreviews of the content associated with each tag so that the subscriber20 could browse for content that is appealing. As described below, thecontent might include advertisements that allow the subscriber 20 and/orthe operator 30 to receive a fee at the time of registration, when thecontent is delivered to the caller 10, or otherwise. The summaries inthe catalog might include and be organized by the fee paid if thesubscriber 20 registers such an advertisement, and/or the fee paid if acaller 10 receives such an advertisement, and/or the fee paid if acaller 10 selects such an advertisement. The act of a caller 10selecting an advertisement may be referred to as “click through.” Thislisting of advertisements and their associated fees, which can be aportion of a revenue component 70, allows the subscriber 20 to browsefor advertisements that have the potential to pay the subscriber 20 themost money, for example. The catalog of tags, their summaries, and theirassociated content might be maintained on the server 50.

The subscriber 20 might register a list of MCIS tags, each associatedwith one or more different pieces of content that might be displayedwhen the caller 10 calls. When a caller 10 places a call to thesubscriber 20, the operator 30 might use an automated algorithm,described in detail below, to select one of the tags and then send thecontent associated with that tag to the caller 10. In some cases, morethan one piece of content can be associated with a single tag. Analgorithm may determine which piece of content will be associated withsuch a tag each time that tag is selected. The algorithms may besoftware-based applications that execute on the server 50.

The operator 30 may generate the multimedia content to be transmittedduring ring back and may associate the content with an MCIS tag.Alternatively, a third party content provider 40, such as a commercialenterprise, a media company, an advertiser, an advertising agency, or agovernment agency, might provide the content to the operator 30. Theoperator 30 would then associate the content with an MCIS tag and makethe tag and associated content available to subscribers 20.Alternatively, the content provider 40 might perform the association ofthe content with the tag. The content provider 40 might compensate theoperator 30 for each tag or set of tags for which the content providerprovides content. This compensation can be referred to as purchasing atag.

As an example, an advertiser could inform the operator 30 that it wishesto have a particular advertisement associated with a particular MCIStag. For example, a vehicle manufacturer might pay the content providerto have the manufacturer's vehicle advertisements delivered whenever thesubscriber 20 selects automobile, sports car, truck, or SUV tags. Theadvertiser might pay the operator 30 for one or more of these tags andthen provide the operator 30 with the content for the advertisement thatis to be associated with the tag. The operator 30 would perform theassociation of the tag with the advertisement and store the tag andassociated advertisement on the server 50. The operator 30 couldmaintain a list of MCIS tags and associated advertisements and couldretrieve and transmit an appropriate advertisement when a caller 10calls a subscriber 20 who has registered one of the tags.

More than one advertisement might be associated with an MCIS tag. Forinstance, a tag could be the vehicle manufacturer's name andadvertisements for several different makes or models of vehicles couldbe associated with that tag. The operator 30 might use an automatedalgorithm, described in more detail below, to determine whichadvertisement will be delivered with each call when a subscriber 20registers a tag with multiple associated advertisements.

In some embodiments, the subscriber 20 may not use the tag method, butinstead may select a particular advertisement, video clip, or othercontent to be used as the ring back. For example, the subscriber 20might be aware of, or browse the Internet, the operator 30, or thecontent provider 40 for content or advertisements. The subscriber mightlocate desired content or advertisements, for example, on a vehiclemanufacturer's web site. The web site might provide any specific paymentor fee details, or other related information useful for the subscriber20 to decide whether to select the advertisement. The subscriber 20could then select to use a particular advertisement for the subscriber's20 ring back. Numerous methods for distributing and selecting thiscontent could be used, for example, such as systems and techniquescurrently used to distribute music (such as online), ring tones, orother content distribution systems and methods. Other such systems andmethods will readily suggest themselves to one skilled in the art inview of the present disclosure and all of which are within the spiritand scope of the present disclosure.

In an embodiment, a caller 10 can respond to the content received in anMCIS message. For example, a caller 10 who is sent an advertisement as aring back might respond to the advertisement by requesting moreinformation about the advertised product or service. A caller 10responding to an advertisement can request to receive an email, a phonecall, or some other information delivery medium. The caller 10 may, forexample, elect to disconnect the call to the subscriber 20 andimmediately speak with a sales or customer service representative aboutthe advertisement. The MCIS service could record the caller's responseand cause the caller 10 to receive the requested information either atthe time of the call or at a later time. The operator 30 can flag thecaller's response as a “click-through” event for revenue generationpurposes, as described below. When the content is not an advertisement,a caller 10 might provide a different type of response and/or request toreceive a different type of information. For example, when the contentis a political advertisement, the caller 10 might be asked to donatetime or make a financial contribution.

A caller 10 might respond to the content in several ways. For example,the caller 10 might click on a hyperlink in the content, press astandard key on the caller's telephone, press a dedicated key on thecaller's telephone specifically designed for responding to MCISmessages, press a “soft key” whose function is defined by a context oroperation state, enter a voice command, click on a button in thetelephone's graphical user interface, click on the graphical userinterface screen or a portion of the screen, or respond in othermanners.

Traditionally, when a called party answers a call, the ring back sent tothe caller ceases. In an embodiment, the MCIS message being sent to thetelephone of a caller 10 can terminate when a subscriber 20 accepts thecaller's call. Alternatively, the caller 10 can choose to keep thecontent on display during the call. If the caller 10 retains the contenton display, the caller 10 might respond to the content while talking tothe subscriber 20 or might abandon the call and return to the content.In another alternative, the caller 10 might temporarily remove thecontent from the display during the call and return to the content afterterminating the call. In yet another alternative, upon the subscriber 20answering a call, the caller 10 might abandon both the call and thecontent by hanging up the telephone.

An MCIS message might have a structure that allows multimedia content tobe transmitted to a caller 10 and allows the message to handle acaller's response to the message. In an embodiment, an MCIS messagecontains a body and an optional query section. The body of an MCISmessage is rendered on the caller's telephone as required for the mediumof the message. The body may include embedded text, HTML, images, audio,video, hyperlinks, multimedia session information described by a SessionDescription Protocol (SDP) parameter, or other data formats capable ofdelivering multimedia content.

Since the body of an MCIS message is of a multimedia nature, it shouldbe clear that the caller's telephone should be a type capable of playingmultimedia content. Thus, the term “telephone”, as used herein, refersto any device capable of performing standard telecommunicationsfunctions and, and in some embodiments, of playing multimedia content,such as mobile telephones provided with video screens. When an MCISmessage is sent to a caller 10 who has a device incapable of playingmultimedia content, such as a device without a video screen, appropriatemodifications to the MCIS messages may be made to deliver only theportion(s) of the message, such as only the audio portion. Anotheralternative may include delivering and playing a different message, orother messages, perhaps even a standard ring back.

The query section of an MCIS message can be used to solicit informationfrom a caller 10. The query section may provide a caller 10 with theability to request more information on an item in an MCIS message viaemail, SMS, MMS, an immediate call back, or other means. The querysection may also provide a caller 10 with the capability to dismiss MCISmessages. For example, a caller 10 might choose to dismiss the currentMCIS message and allow the MCIS service to send another MCIS message ora caller 10 might choose to dismiss the current MCIS message and inhibitfurther MCIS messages. Details on a caller 10 dismissing an MCIS messageare provided below.

Embodiments provide for revenue generating and sharing arrangementsbetween the operator 30 and a content provider 40 and between theoperator 30 and a subscriber 20. For example, a content provider 40might provide ring back content in the form of an advertisement to theoperator 30 and might pay the operator 30 to make the content availableto subscribers 20. In one case, the content provider 40 might pay theoperator 30 for each advertisement-related tag or set of tags that thecontent provider 40 purchases from the operator 30. In another case, thecontent provider 40 might pay the operator 30 whenever a subscriber 20registers an advertisement-related tag or set of tags, or perhaps even asingle advertisement. In yet another case, the content provider 40 mightpay the operator 30 whenever one of the content provider'sadvertisements is sent to a caller 10, regardless of whether the caller10 selects the advertisement. In still another case, the contentprovider 40 might pay the operator 30 whenever a caller 10 responds,such as by requesting more information, for example with a clickthrough.

The operator 30 might pay or otherwise compensate a subscriber 20 undercircumstances similar to these. That is, the operator 30 might pay thesubscriber 20 when the subscriber 20 registers an advertisement-relatedtag or set of tags, when an advertisement associated with a tagregistered by the subscriber 20 is sent to a caller 10, regardless ofwhether the caller 10 selects the advertisement, or when a caller 10selects an advertisement associated with a tag registered by thesubscriber 20.

In some circumstances, a subscriber 20 might pay the operator 30 forcontent and/or the operator 30 might pay the content provider 40 forcontent. For example, a content provider 40 might require payment forsome types of premium content such as real-time sports scores, cartoons,and financial market analysis and tips. The content provider 40 maycharge for such premium content on a per unit basis or offer a period orvolume-based subscription.

The amounts paid when content is registered, displayed, or selected canvary based on several factors. For example, the operator 30 may applydifferent payment rates to a content provider 40 based on the typeand/or length of the content. The business relationship between theoperator 30 and the content provider 40 may also be a factor in thepayment for content. For example, if the content delivered by thecontent provider 40 is a mix of advertising and premium content, theoperator 30 and the content provider 40 may have varying fee agreementsor agree to waive each other's fees.

If an advertisement has “click-through” capability, i.e., it includeshyperlinks or other connections back to an advertiser or to a company orservice represented by an advertiser, the operator 30 may levy anadditional charge on the content provider 40. The operator 30 may sharea portion of this click-through revenue with any subscriber 20 whoregisters the advertisement or the MCIS tag associated with theadvertisement.

In one embodiment, a subscriber 20 simply subscribes to the MCIS serviceand has no control of the content that is sent to callers 10. Theoperator 30 specifies the tag and the content for each call made to thesubscriber 20. In other embodiments, a subscriber 20 can register one ormore tags and each tag can have one or more pieces of content associatedwith it. In one case, a subscriber 20 registers only one tag and onlyone piece of content is associated with that tag. When a caller 10 callsthe subscriber 20, the operator 30 simply retrieves the contentassociated with the tag and transmits the content to the caller 10 in anMCIS message. That is, the operator 30 may search through content thathas been developed in-house or by the content provider 40 for thecontent that matches the selected MCIS tag. Upon finding the associatedcontent, the operator 30 generates an MCIS message containing thecontent and transmits the MCIS message to the caller 10.

In the cases where a subscriber 20 has registered multiple tags or wherea subscriber 20 has registered only one tag but multiple pieces ofcontent are associated with that tag, a different piece of content maybe sent to a caller 10 for each call the caller 10 places to asubscriber 20. In an embodiment, a selection process occurs to determinethe content that will be transmitted to the caller 10. The selectionprocess determines the tag that will be used for a particular calland/or the content that will be associated with the tag being used for aparticular call.

In one case, the operator 30 may partner with a web search company,enter the MCIS tag into a search engine, and use the search results topopulate the MCIS message. The search may be a text-based or audio-basedquery or, in the future, may be an image-based or video-based query. Inother words, the selection process involves associating a tag with theresults of a web search.

In another case, the operator 30 may classify some MCIS tags as specialtags and fetch data from appropriate sources to generate an MCISmessage. For example, the operator 30 may recognize the MCIS tag“weather alerts” as a special tag and fetch weather alert informationfrom government agencies or news sources to populate an MCIS message. Inthis case, the selection process involves associating a special tag withthe most recent data available for that tag.

In yet another case, an algorithm maintained by the operator 30 andrunning on the server 50 can select a tag and/or select the content thatis to be associated with a tag for each call. The algorithm's selectionprocess can be based on several different factors. In some embodiments,the selection algorithm may randomly select a tag from the subscriber'slist of registered tags or may sequentially select tags starting at someposition in the list. When more than one piece of content is associatedwith the selected tag, the algorithm may use another random orsequential process to select the content that will be associated withtag.

In other embodiments, the algorithm may select a particular tag and/or aparticular piece of content based on a priority setting for the tagsand/or content. For example, the operator 30 or a content provider 40might wish to have a particular piece of content be transmitted tocallers 10 more often than other pieces of content. Such content mightbe given a higher priority rating than other content so that theselection algorithm selects that content more often than other content.A content provider 40 might pay the operator 30 a higher fee for contentthat has a higher priority rating.

In other embodiments, the algorithm may select a particular tag and/or aparticular piece of content based on the time of the day, the time ofthe year, or some other time aspect. For example, an advertisement for abreakfast restaurant might be sent to a caller 10 in the morning and anadvertisement for a dinner restaurant might be sent in the evening.Alternatively, an advertisement for a beach vacation might be sent inthe summer and an advertisement for a ski vacation might be sent in thewinter. Alternatively, an advertisement for a floral arrangementdelivery service may be sent timely in advance of Valentine's Day and/orMother's Day.

The selection algorithm might also provide for sending differentadvertisements to a caller 10 based on the caller's location. Locationinformation might be ascertained from the area code in the caller'scaller ID information and/or the Automatic Number Identification (ANI)parameter in an origination message, from GPS information provided bythe caller's telephone, from Home Location Register (HLR) data and/orVisitor's Location Register (VLR) data, or from other sources. Anadvertisement with a location aspect appropriate for the caller'slocation can then be sent to the caller 10. For example, if GPS-basedinformation indicates that a caller 10 is near a particularintersection, an advertisement for a business near that intersectioncould be sent to the caller 10. Alternatively, if a caller's caller IDinformation indicates that the caller 10 is in a particular city, anadvertisement for a restaurant in that city might be sent to the caller10.

The selection algorithm might use the caller ID of a caller 10 in otherways to determine the content the caller receives. For example, asubscriber 20 might have the capability to designate the content thatwill be sent to individual callers 10 or groups of callers 10 based onthe caller IDs of the callers 10. Such a capability might allow thesubscriber 20 to have one type of message sent to family, for example,and another type of message sent to friends, and so on. The selectionalgorithm would be able to take these subscriber preferences intoaccount in selecting an MCIS tag and/or in associating content with aselected tag.

The revenue capable of being generated by advertisements in MCISmessages may also be a factor in the algorithm's selection process. Theamount a content provider 40 pays the operator 30 for transmitting anadvertisement can be referred to as the revenue aspect of the piece ofcontent. The revenue aspect may be based on various factors such as thepriority of the advertisement, the location of the caller 10, or thetime of day or year. When different advertisements pay the operator 30different amounts of money, the algorithm may select the advertisementsthat have the potential to pay the operator 30 the most money. Forexample, the algorithm might determine that an advertisement for arestaurant that is transmitted to a caller 10 during the evening whilethe caller 10 is near the restaurant will pay the operator 30 more thanan advertisement with other payment parameters and may ensure that thehigher paying advertisement is transmitted.

Complicated service level agreements (SLAs) may be defined that includea maximum rate of ad distribution per first unit of time that will bepaid for—as for example a maximum number of ads per ten minute timeinterval—and a maximum total number of ads per second unit of time thatwill be paid for—as for example a maximum number of ads per billingcycle. A series of maximum number of ads per first unit of time may bedefined for different times of day—for example a maximum rate during thetwo hours preceding the primary dining hour, a maximum rate during theprimary dining hour, and a maximum rate during the remaining hours.Other payment and/or billing models, which may be referred to aseconomic models, readily suggest themselves to one skilled in the artand are comprehended in the present disclosure.

The selection algorithm might also use the connection status of a callor the presence status of the subscriber 20 to determine the contentthat will be included in an MCIS message. Call connection status mightinclude “locating” (i.e., the subscriber's telephone is ringing and ringback is occurring), “busy” (i.e., the subscriber 20 is on another call),and other statuses. Presence status might include “away” (i.e., thesubscriber 20 is unable to answer a call), “do not disturb” (i.e., thesubscriber 20 does not wish to accept calls), “off” (i.e., thesubscriber's telephone is turned off), and other statuses. Thesubscriber 20 might have the capability to designate that each of thesestatuses or various combinations of these statuses will cause differentring back content to be sent to a caller 10. The selection algorithm cantake these subscriber preferences into account when selecting a tagand/or determining content that will be associated with a tag. Forexample when the subscriber 20 selected “do not disturb”, certaincontent may be transmitted to the caller 10 followed by a message fromthe subscriber 20 indicating that the subscriber 20 is busy at themoment. Other information or combinations of content may be provided aswell.

An MCIS tag is not restricted to being purchased by only one advertiser.Several advertisers may purchase the same tag and each advertiser maypay a different price for the tag and provide different content for thetag. In an embodiment, the number of times the selection algorithmselects the content for a tag purchased by a particular advertiser isrelated to the price paid by that advertiser for the tag. For example,the MCIS tag “pizza” may be purchased by several restaurants and theoperator 30 may associate advertisements from each of the restaurantswith that tag. Advertisements from advertisers who paid more for the tagmay be transmitted to callers 10 more often than advertisements fromadvertisers who have agreed to pay less for the tag.

In an embodiment, the operator 30 may offer an advertiser exclusive useof an MCIS tag for an additional fee. The selection algorithm may takesuch an arrangement into account when determining how often to deliverthe content associated with such a tag.

As mentioned previously, callers 10 can have the capability to suppresscontent sent to them by subscribers 20. In an embodiment, during thefirst MCIS message received upon placing a call, a caller 10 can respondto the message by indicating that no further MCIS messages are to besent. Some callers 10 may wish to suppress all MCIS messages, includingthe first, or to suppress MCIS messages with certain types of content(e.g., advertising). To enable such control, the caller's operator(which may or may not be the same as the subscriber's operator 30) mayoffer an MCIS restriction service that indicates to the subscriber'soperator 30 whether MCIS messages are allowed, disallowed, or allowedwith specific content restrictions. The operator 30 might charge a feefor a service to block content, or may prohibit such blocking. In someembodiments, the operator 30, not the subscriber 20, may control theselection of the MCIS tags and related content, and/or selected contentor advertisements.

A caller 10 may also be a subscriber to an MCIS service that may or maynot be the same MCIS service provided by the operator 30 previouslymentioned. Such a caller 10 may receive content that the caller 10wishes to make available as ring back content to parties placing callsto the caller 10. For example, a caller 10 who receives a video clip inan MCIS message may wish to use that video clip as the content for theoutgoing ring back signal delivered to parties calling the caller 10.

In an embodiment, an MCIS message can contain information that allows acaller 10 to obtain information associated with a piece of contentdelivered in the message. The caller 10 can then send that informationto the caller's operator so that the content associated with the tag canbe available as the caller's ring back content. Tag information may beembedded in an MCIS message as a code word that a caller 10 can copy, asa hyperlink that a caller 10 can click on to visit a web site containinga tag or content with download instructions, or in some other form. Thisallows callers 10 to easily populate their tag list with the tags ofcontent, or selected content, such as an advertisement or information,they have received on calls to subscribers 20.

Advertisements and other content that appears on television, theInternet, or other media might have similar capabilities to provide atag or other identifying information. In one embodiment, the tag may bean identifier, such as key word, serial or other number or identifierthat identifies a single piece of MCIS content, such as a specificadvertisement. A subscriber 20 could retrieve this tag information andmake the associated content available as ring back content. For example,a music video played on television might display information that allowsviewers to obtain a tag that will allow the viewers to use the video asring back content. Revenue sharing arrangements between advertisers andsubscribers 20 may be made for subscribers 20 who use advertisementsobtained in this manner as ring back content.

While the above discussion has focused on a subscriber 20 providingmultimedia ring back content to a caller 10, it should be clear thatsuch content may be available to the subscriber 20 also. For example, ifa subscriber 20 provides callers 10 with real-time sports scores aspremium ring back content, the subscriber 20 might wish to have accessto the score information also. In an embodiment, a subscriber 20 has thecapability to retrieve any content that the subscriber 20 makesavailable to callers 10.

Operators 30 might use the MCIS service as a marketing tool to attractcustomers. For example, operators 30 might inform potential customersthat subscribers 20 can earn money by providing advertisements as ringback content. Operators 30 might also offer free or discounted telephoneservice to subscribers 20 who display advertisements.

The MCIS service also allows subscribers 20 to express their personaltastes and interests by having customized multimedia content deliveredto callers 10. Businesses can use the MCIS service to advertise productsand services via a new channel for delivering interactiveadvertisements. A new channel is also provided for government agenciesto deliver important news and alerts regarding events such as severeweather, natural disasters, missing children, and terrorism. The MCISservice also provides a new channel for media and content companies topromote new offerings such as music, movies, and games. It should benoted that advertisers place a premium on advertisements where theaudience is considered to be a captive or attentive audience. The caller10 is focused on and expecting to communicate with the subscriber 20.During the ring back time when the MCIS service provides this content,the caller 10 might be considered a captive audience, and thusadvertisers might have more interest and be willing to pay premiumprices for such advertisements.

A revenue model is also provided where an operator 30 chargessubscribers 20 for registering MCIS tags. The operator 30 may use theserevenues to defray the costs of purchasing content from third partycontent providers 40 such as news and media companies. A revenue sharingmechanism can exist between an operator 30 and a subscriber 20 when thering back content provided by the subscriber 20 is an advertisement.Numerous other revenue models are disclosed herein and others willreadily suggest themselves to one skilled in the art in light of thepresent disclosure, all of which are within the spirit and scope of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of a method by which an MCIS servicecan deliver multimedia ring back content to a caller and by which asubscriber to the MCIS service can be compensated for selecting anadvertisement as the ring back content. It should be understood thatthis embodiment is provided only as an example of one set oftransactions that might occur in one set of circumstances. All of thesteps described below do not necessarily need to occur and the steps donot necessarily need to occur in the order stated. In some embodiments,some steps shown separately in FIG. 2 may be combined.

In box 110, a content provider 40 purchases a tag from atelecommunications network operator 30. In box 120, the content provider40 generates multimedia content for the tag. The content may beassociated with the tag by the operator 30 or by the content provider40. In box 130, a subscriber 20 subscribes to an MCIS service offered bythe operator 30. In box 140, the subscriber 20 registers the tag thatwas purchased by the content provider 40. That is, the subscriber 20informs the operator 30 that the subscriber 20 wishes to use the contentassociated with the tag as the subscriber's ring back signal.

In box 150, a caller 10 calls the subscriber 20. The operator 30delivers the call to the subscriber 20 in box 160. In box 170, the tagis selected from a list of other tags that the subscriber 20 hasregistered. In box 180, the MCIS service generates an MCIS messagecontaining the content that is associated with the tag. In box 190, theoperator 30 transmits the message to the caller 10.

The caller 10 requests more information about the content of the messagein box 200. In this example, the message content can be assumed to be anadvertisement and the caller 10 can be assumed to have requestedinformation about a product featured in the advertisement. In box 210,the MCIS service creates a record that the request was made. In box 220,the content provider 40 is billed for the fact that information relatedto its advertisement was requested. In box 230, the subscriber 20 ispaid for having made the advertisement available. In box 240, the MCISservice sends the requested information to the caller 10.

In box 250, the subscriber 20 accepts the caller's call. In box 260, theMCIS service terminates. That is, no further MCIS messages are sent tothe caller 10. In box 270, the call between the caller 10 and thesubscriber 20 is connected. In other embodiments, the subscriber 20locates the content in other methods, such as described above, andselects the content to be delivered to the caller 10 as a ring back whenthe caller 10 calls the subscriber 20.

In some embodiments, the operator 30, such as the telecommunicationprovider, may provide the content, for example, the advertisements,news, or other content, regardless of whether the subscriber 20subscribed to the content. In fact, the operator 30 may not even providesubscriber 20 with the option to select the content. For example, thesubscriber 20, in this embodiment, may not be aware or able to controlthe content that the caller 10 receives when calling the subscriber 20.In this case, the operator 30 will control all decisions about thecontent.

The all or portions of the system described above may be implemented onany hand-held mobile electronic device 180 such as is well known tothose skilled in the art. An exemplary mobile handset system 180 forimplementing one or more embodiments disclosed herein is illustrated inFIG. 3. The mobile handset 180 includes a processor 1210 (which may bereferred to as a central processor unit or CPU) that is coupled to afirst storage area 1220, a second storage area 1230, an input device1240 such as a keypad, and an output device such as a display screen200. As is well known to those skilled in the art, the mobile handset180 may comprise a transmit/receive antenna (not shown) and radiofrequency transmit/receive circuitry (not shown), some of which may beimplemented by the processor 1210. In an embodiment, some of thetransmit/receive antenna and radio frequency transmit/receive circuitrymay be combined with some of the processor 1210 as a system-on-a-chip(SOC).

The processor 1210 may be implemented as one or more CPU chips and mayexecute instructions, codes, computer programs, or scripts that itaccesses from the first storage area 1220 or the second storage area1230. The processor 1210 may be implemented using one or more digitalsignal processors (DSPs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), fieldprogrammable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), and/or other specialized semiconductor logic device.The first storage area 1220 might be a non-volatile memory such as flashmemory. Mobile handset 180 data would typically be installed in thefirst storage area 1220. The second storage area 1230 might be firmwareor a similar type of memory. The device's operating system wouldtypically be installed in the second storage area 1230.

Various systems above may also be implemented on any general-purposecomputer with sufficient processing power, memory resources, and networkthroughput capability to handle the necessary workload placed upon it.FIG. 4 illustrates a typical, general-purpose computer system suitablefor implementing one or more embodiments disclosed herein. The computersystem 1300 includes a processor 1332 (which may be referred to as acentral processor unit or CPU) that is in communication with memorydevices including secondary storage 1338, read only memory (ROM) 1336,random access memory (RAM) 1334, input/output (I/O) devices 1340, andnetwork connectivity devices 1312. The processor 1332 may be implementedas one or more CPU chips.

The secondary storage 1338 is typically comprised of one or more diskdrives or tape drives and is used for non-volatile storage of data andas an over-flow data storage device if RAM 1334 is not large enough tohold all working data. Secondary storage 1338 may be used to storeprograms that are loaded into RAM 1334 when such programs are selectedfor execution. The ROM 1336 is used to store instructions and perhapsdata that are read during program execution. ROM 1336 is a non-volatilememory device that typically has a small memory capacity relative to thelarger memory capacity of secondary storage. The RAM 1334 is used tostore volatile data and perhaps to store instructions. Access to bothROM 1336 and RAM 1334 is typically faster than to secondary storage1338.

I/O devices 1340 may include printers, video monitors, liquid crystaldisplays (LCDs), touch screen displays, keyboards, keypads, switches,dials, mice, track balls, voice recognizers, card readers, paper tapereaders, or other well-known input devices.

The network connectivity devices 1312 may take the form of modems, modembanks, ethernet cards, universal serial bus (USB) interface cards,serial interfaces, token ring cards, fiber distributed data interface(FDDI) cards, wireless local area network (WLAN) cards, radiotransceiver cards such as code division multiple access (CDMA) and/orglobal system for mobile communications (GSM) radio transceiver cards,and other well-known network devices. These network connectivity devices1312 may enable the processor 1332 to communicate with the Internet orone or more intranets. With such a network connection, it iscontemplated that the processor 1332 might receive information from anetwork or might output information to a network in the course ofperforming the above-described method steps.

Such information, which may include data or instructions to be executedusing processor 1332 for example, may be received from and outputted tothe network, for example, in the form of a computer data baseband signalor signal embodied in a carrier wave. The baseband signal or signalembodied in the carrier wave generated by the network connectivitydevices 1312 may propagate in or on the surface of electricalconductors, in coaxial cables, in waveguides, in optical media, forexample optical fiber, or in the air or free space. The informationcontained in the baseband signal or signal embedded in the carrier wavemay be ordered according to different sequences, as may be desirable foreither processing or generating the information or transmitting orreceiving the information. The baseband signal or signal embedded in thecarrier wave, or other types of signals currently used or hereafterdeveloped, referred to herein as the transmission medium, may begenerated according to several methods well known to one skilled in theart.

The processor 1332 executes instructions, codes, computer programs, orscripts that it accesses from hard disk, floppy disk, optical disk(these various disk-based systems may all be considered secondarystorage 1338), ROM 1336, RAM 1334, or the network connectivity devices1312.

While several embodiments have been provided in the present disclosure,it should be understood that the disclosed systems and methods may beembodied in many other specific forms without departing from the spiritor scope of the present disclosure. The present examples are to beconsidered as illustrative and not restrictive, and the intention is notto be limited to the details given herein, but may be modified withinthe scope of the appended claims along with their full scope ofequivalents. For example, the various elements or components may becombined or integrated in another system or certain features may beomitted, or not implemented.

Also, techniques, systems, subsystems and methods described andillustrated in the various embodiments as discrete or separate may becombined or integrated with other systems, modules, techniques, ormethods without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.Other items shown or discussed as directly coupled or communicating witheach other may be coupled through some interface or device, such thatthe items may no longer be considered directly coupled to each other butmay still be indirectly coupled and in communication, whetherelectrically, mechanically, or otherwise with one another. Otherexamples of changes, substitutions, and alterations are ascertainable byone skilled in the art and could be made without departing from thespirit and scope disclosed herein.

1. A method for providing ring back content, comprising: calling asubscriber; receiving content as ring back when calling the subscriber;and selecting to obtain more information related to the content, whereinselecting to obtain more information related to the content includesproviding a voice reply in response to the content.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the content is an advertisement.
 3. The method of claim1, wherein the content is an audio only advertisement.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the content is multimedia content including an audioportion and a video portion.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein thecontent is a multimedia advertisement.
 6. The method of claim 1, whereinthe content is further defined as having a text portion and a graphicsportion.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is a videoadvertisement.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising thesubscriber selecting the content.
 9. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising an operator selecting the content.
 10. The method of claim 1,wherein selecting to obtain more information related to the contentincludes actuating a key on a keypad in response to the content.
 11. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the content is received at one of a mobilehandset, a mobile telephone, a portable telephone, a personalcommunication system (PCS), a wired telephone, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a portablecomputer, a personal computer, a workstation computer, and an Internetappliance.
 12. The method of claim 1, further comprising blocking thecontent.
 13. The method of claim 1, further comprising stoppingreception of the content when the subscriber connects the call.
 14. Amethod for providing ring back content, comprising: receiving a callfrom a caller to a subscriber; providing content to the caller as ringback; and paying the subscriber based on one of: the caller receivingthe content and the caller responding to the content.
 15. The method ofclaim 14, wherein the subscriber is paid based on the caller receivingthe content.
 16. The method of claim 14, wherein the subscriber is paidbased on the caller responding to the content.
 17. The method of claim14, further comprising receiving the content from a content provider.18. The method of claim 17, wherein the content provider is anadvertiser.
 19. A system for providing ring back content, comprising: anoperator configured communicate with a subscriber system and a callersystem, the operator configured to: receive a call from the callersystem to the subscriber system; provide content to the caller system asring back; and pay a subscriber associated with the subscriber systembased on one of: the caller system receiving the content and a callerassociated with the caller system responding to the content.
 20. Thesystem of claim 19, wherein the subscriber system is selected from agroup of systems consisting of mobile handsets, mobile telephones,portable telephones, personal communication systems (PCS), wiredtelephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), laptop computers, tabletcomputers, portable computers, personal computers, workstationcomputers, and Internet appliances, and wherein the caller system isselected from a group of systems consisting of mobile handsets, mobiletelephones, portable telephones, personal communication systems (PCS),wired telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), laptop computers,tablet computers, portable computers, personal computers, workstationcomputers, and Internet appliances.
 21. The system of claim 20, whereinthe caller system has a video display.
 22. The system of claim 19,wherein the content is selected from a group of content consisting ofaudio advertisements, multimedia content, audio-video content,multimedia advertisements.
 23. The system of claim 19, wherein thecontent includes any content but audio ring-tone ring back content. 24.The system of claim 19, further comprising a server maintaining thecontent.
 25. The system of claim 24, comprising a component operable forselection of the ring back.
 26. A caller system operable for ring backmultimedia content, comprising: a processor; and a display operablyconnected to the processor; wherein the caller system is operable to:receive the multimedia content as a ring back when a call is placed;present the multimedia content to a user; receive a voice reply from theuser in response to the multimedia content; and in response to the voicereply, allow the user to obtain more information related to themultimedia content.
 27. The system of claim 26, wherein the multimediacontent includes a video portion and an audio portion.
 28. The system ofclaim 26, wherein the multimedia content is an advertisement.
 29. Thesystem of claim 26, wherein the caller system is selected from a groupof systems consisting of mobile handsets, mobile telephones, portabletelephones, personal communication systems (PCS), wired telephones,personal digital assistants (PDAs), laptop computers, tablet computers,portable computers, personal computers, workstation computers, andInternet appliances.
 30. The system of claim 26, wherein the callersystem is operable to promote blocking the multimedia content.
 31. Thesystem of claim 26, wherein the caller system is operable to stopreceiving the multimedia content when the call is connected to asubscriber.
 32. The system of claim 26, wherein the multimedia contentis a video advertisement.
 33. The system of claim 32, wherein respondingto the multimedia content includes selecting to store a least a portionof the multimedia content for a later response.
 34. The system of claim26, wherein the caller system is operable in response to receiving themultimedia content as ring back to select to provision the caller systemwith the multimedia content as ring back received when callers call thecaller system.